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Syria death toll from rebel infighting jumps to 68

April 11, 2014

BEIRUT – The death toll from infighting between rival Islamic rebel groups in eastern Syria has jumped to 68, the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said Friday.

The Observatory said battles were still raging on Friday, for a second day, around Bukamal town in the oil-rich Deir el-Zour province near the Iraqi border. Rebels from the al-Qaeda breakaway group known as the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant and fighters of the al-Qaeda-linked Nusra Front

and other Islamic groups have been fighting each other in the province for weeks over territory they previously captured together from President Bashar Assad’s forces, including oil-fields. The Observatory said 51 fighters died in fighting around Bukamal on Thursday, when the flare-up started. The Islamic State captured the town, previously controlled by the Nusra Front. (AP)